Workboat delivered for Greenland’s Arctic conditions

The 15m ProZero vessel has been delivered to Greenland’s Diskoline, and features dual Z drives and a deep V-hull configuration with an emphasis on passenger and crew comfort, such as heated windows and hand and guard rails.

Tuco Marine director Jonas Pedersen, who has 25 years of boat designing and building to his name, says the vessel, Aaveq, is the first of its kind built at the shipyard.

“This is a first for us, and was delivered last week,” he said. “It is a composite vessel built out of fibre glass, and the starting point was hull performance – the shell needed to be adapted and built for the Arctic.

”It has an ice-protected bow, reinforced spray rails and special spray skirts to improve efficiency and peformance.

“Several other things have been upgraded specifically for Arctic operations and cold climates. Below-floor water piping, for example, needed to be heated, and to have heated guard rails in a vessel of this size is unique – normally you would only find that on much larger vessels.

“It is diesel powered but prepared for future adoption of hybrid systems, so batteries could be used. However I think batteries in general are an intermediate solution and we are doing other projects at the moment, like looking at fuel cells, to provide electricity on board.”

Aaveq will be used to transport people between small communities in Greenland, and more vessels of this kind are inevitably going to be needed, Pedersen says.

“We have been targeting this market for some time,” he says.

The ProZero workboat has a top speed of 30 knots, produced by its twin inboard Volvo Penta engines.